Sights in Singapore
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Little India
This modest but colourful area of wall-to-wall shops, pungent aromas and Hindi film music is a relief from the prim modernity of many parts of the city. Centred around the southern end of Serangoon Rd, this is the place to come to pick up that framed print of Krishna you've always wanted, eat great food and watch streetside cooks fry chapatis.
The Zhujiao Centre is the main market, but there are also interesting spice shops nearby. The best temples are Sri Veeramakaliamman, Sri Srinivasa Perumal and the glitzy Temple of 1000 Lights.
reviewed
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Singapore Zoo
Set on a peninsula jutting into the Upper Seletar Reservoir, the Singapore Zoo is world class. Its 28 landscaped hectares and open concept (no cages) are a far cry from the sad concrete confines some zoos retain.
reviewed
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Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Attention bird-nerds! The 87-hectare Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve overlooks the Straits of Johor in the far northwest of the island. The park sustains 140 bird species, most of which are migratory, and features mangrove boardwalks, walking trails enclosed by thick foliage, observation huts and guided tours on Saturdays (9am, 10pm, 3pm and 4pm). Audiovisual shows on the park’s flora and fauna are held at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm (hourly between 9am and 5pm on Sunday). BYO binoculars and mosquito repellent.
reviewed
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Chinatown
Chinatown is Singapore's cultural heart, providing glimpses of the old ways with its numerous temples, decorated terraces and frantic conglomeration of merchants, shops and activity. Unfortunately much of Chinatown has been torn down and redeveloped over the past 30 years, but it's still a fascinating place to explore.
Although faithful restoration has saved some parts of Chinatown, it has also posed a new threat, as the restored buildings are now desirable properties commanding high rents. Traditional businesses - such as shops selling incense to temple worshippers, letter writers and chop (stamp) makers - are moving out, and a new gentrified Chinatown of fashionable…
reviewed
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Ketna Patel Studio Gallery
Ketna Patel and her husband Jonathan run a home gallery best described as a ‘residential laboratory for like-minded people’. The studio’s specific goal is to promote dialogue between developed and developing nations, using art as the means of communication. While the gallery is open by appointment only, like-minded artists visiting Singapore should consider contacting Ketna (ketna@ketnapatel.com) to find out about ongoing projects and happenings.
reviewed
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Singapore Flyer
People in cities around the world are paying money to get into a gigantic Ferris wheel for glorious views. Why not? The Singapore Flyer is an expensive 30-minute ride with views towards the Colonial District, CBD, Marina Bay, the high-rise housing landscape to the east and out to the South China Sea. You’re better off going on a clear day than at night, if only to avoid the annoying flashing neon lights outside the cabin.
reviewed
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Robertson Quay
Robertson Quay was once thronging with boat repairers and timber mills. Near Saigon Bridge are the river's last derelict godown (warehouses), held together with tree roots and rust - given Singapore's appetite for destruction, they won't last much longer! There's a healthy crop of hotels, nightclubs and restaurants clustered around here too.
reviewed
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Singapore Botanic Gardens
If Singapore’s urban planners could manufacture paradise, it wouldn’t look too different from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The front entrance leads to an idyllic koi pond. On weekends, laughing children feed the multicoloured fish. Right behind, a waterfall gurgles and birds hop around the water’s edge, at ease with the locals.
reviewed
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Jurong Bird Park
This ageing attraction is still popular with school kids, families and nature photographers. The Jurong Bird Park is home to 8000 birds –600 species, 30 of them endangered. Visitors walk through themed enclosures along 1.7km worth of trails: pelicans gawp at passers-by along a boardwalk, leggy pink flamingos stand proud by a lake, penguins nosedive through water in air-conditioned comfort and cutting through it all is the escapable scent of bird poop.
reviewed
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Changi Village
On the far northeast coast of Singapore, Changi Village is an escape from the hubbub of central Singapore. The buildings are modern (although there are some interesting old ‘black-and-white’ bungalows along Loyang Ave), but there’s still a village atmosphere, with the lively and quite renowned hawker centre next to the bus terminus being a focal point. There’s a small, attractive beachfront camp site across the Changi Creek from the bus terminal, where you can watch the planes gliding into Changi airport while relaxing on the imported sand. It’s popular on weekends but almost deserted during the week. You might want to avoid swimming here, though. Changi’s beach is where…
reviewed
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Chinatown Heritage Centre
Set on three floors of an old shophouse, the Chinatown Heritage Centre is an engaging museum focusing on the arduous everyday lives of Singapore’s Chinese settlers. Reconstructed living environments are festooned with artefacts. The cramped quarters of shophouse living are decked out with startling reality (right down to the fake poop inside the bucket toilet – thankfully, scent-emitting technology won’t be invented until 2050). The oral and video histories of local people are genuinely moving…if the projectors and screens decide to work.
reviewed
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MacRitchie Reservoir
Bring lots of water and wear good walking shoes… this ain’t no ordinary hike in the park. In the middle of the 2000-hectare Central Catchment Nature Reserve is the MacRitchie Reservoir. The mirror-surfaced reservoir is surrounded by a 12km, five-hour, circular jungle trail. Though less popular, the six trails here are no less beautiful than the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve walks and provide more of a challenge. Pick up a map from the rangers’ office along Lornie Rd or at the start of the Pierce Track.
reviewed
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Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
Opened with much fanfare in 2008, this magnificent five-storey southern Chinese-style Buddhist temple is quickly altering Chinatown's gravity by becoming the number-one attraction for both tourists and local worshippers alike. The temple, as you may have guessed from the name, houses what is believed to be the sacred tooth of the Buddha. The magnificent relic stupa is composed of 420kg of gold donated by worshippers. This is also the only temple that - to our knowledge - has its own underground parking garage.
reviewed
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Bukit Chandu
Atop Bukit Chandu (Opium Hill), is a moving WWII interpretive centre inside a renovated villa. The focus is on the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Malay Regiment who bravely defended the hill against the Japanese in the Battle of Pasir Panjang in February 1942. This was the last major battle for Singapore, the Malay battalions no match for 13,000 Japanese soldiers. Hi-tech displays, films and audio effects transport you to the battle scene.
reviewed
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Orchard Rd
Famous by name, Orchard Rd was once was lined with nutmeg and pepper plantations. Today it's the domain of Singapore's elite and well-heeled tourists, lured here by the shopping centres, nightspots, restaurants, bars and lounges. A showcase for the material delights of capitalism, Orchard Rd also possesses some sights of cultural interest where a credit card is not required.
reviewed
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Night Safari
You can walk around the three trails in the 40-hectare forested park but the best experience is via the tram (adult/child S$10/5), even though we think it’s a little cheeky (and greedy) that you have to pay for the atmospheric 45-minute jungle tour past a parade of 120 different spot-lit nocturnal species.
reviewed
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Kent Ridge Park
This park commands views over the port and the southern islands and is nearly always deserted. The walk will take you through a treetop boardwalk with the call of crickets your only companion. Don’t forget to visit Reflections at Bukit Chandu en route.
reviewed
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Padang & Around
The open field of the Padang is where flannelled fools play cricket in the tropical heat. At the opposite end of the field is the Singapore Recreation Club. This rather prosaic spot has darker historical significance, as it was here that the invading Japanese herded the European community together before marching them off to Changi prison. Apart from the Singapore Recreation Club (which looks like something made from kids’ building blocks), the Padang is flanked by a handsome collection of colonial buildings and assorted monuments. At the Padang’s southern end, the Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall (1862), once the town hall, is now used for cultural events. Parliament…
reviewed
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Fort Canning Hill
When Raffles rolled in and claimed Singapore for the mother country, locals steered clear of Fort Canning Hill, then called Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill), out of respect for the sacred shrine of Sultan Iskandar Shah, ancient Singapura's last ruler. Raffles built a modest atap residence on the summit in 1822, which acted as Government House until the military built Fort Canning, named after Viscount Canning, first Viceroy of India, in 1860.
A few early-colonial hints remain - old Christian gravestones are embedded in brick walls, and there's a spice garden on the site of Raffles' original botanic garden; guided tours can be arranged through at-sunrice cooking academy at…
reviewed
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Singapore Zoological Gardens
In the far north of the island, Singapore’s world-class zoo has 3600 animals, representing 410 species including endangered white rhino, Bengal white tigers and even polar bears. Wherever possible, moats replace bars, and the zoo is beautifully spread out over 28 hectares of lush greenery beside the Upper Seletar Reservoir. As far as zoos go, this is one of the best. Some of the animal shows might be a little circuslike, such as the elephant rides and the sea lion performance, but most are magnificent – particularly the white tiger, elephant, crocodile and, best of all, baboon enclosures. Feeding times are well staggered to allow you to catch most of them as you walk…
reviewed
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Pulau Ubin
A 10-minute chug from Changi Point Ferry Terminal lands you on the shores of Pulau Ubin. There's no timetable; boats depart when 12 people are ready to go (not usually too long). Singaporeans like to wax nostalgic about Ubin's kampung (village) atmosphere, but it's only a matter of time before the developers come knocking. For the moment though, it's a rural, unkempt expanse of jungle full of lizards, weird shrines and cacophonic birdlife.
The best way to get around is by mountain bike, which, coincidentally, is also about the only thing to do - the tidal mud flats are no good for swimming and the quarry lakes are off limits.
Veer right from the jetty to the Pulau Ubin…
reviewed
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Mt Faber Park
Off Kampong Bahru Rd, 116m-high Mt Faber forms the centrepiece of Mt Faber Park, one of the oldest parks in Singapore. The hillside slopes, covered with secondary rainforest, offer some fine views over the harbour and central Singapore, and on the hike up here you’ll catch glimpses of colonial-era black-and-white bungalows and the strikingly stripy Danish Seaman’s Mission built in 1909. It’s a steep, sweaty walk to the top, so if this sounds unappealing, the cable car might be a better option. It connects the World Trade Centre, next to Harbour Front MRT station, with the summit and Sentosa Island. At and around the summit are a number of red-brick paths through…
reviewed
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Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
This national monument, built in the 1880s, was the headquarters of Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Southeast Asia, which led to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the creation of the first Chinese republic. Dr Sun Yat Sen briefly stayed in the house, which was donated to the Alliance by a wealthy Chinese businessman, while touring Asia to whip up support for the cause. It’s a fine example of a colonial Victorian villa and houses a museum with items pertaining to Dr Sun’s life and work. A magnificent 60m-long bronze relief depicting the defining moments in Singapore’s history runs the length of one wall in the garden. Bus 145 from the Toa Payoh bus…
reviewed
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Chinese & Japanese Gardens
These spacious gardens, which occupy 13.5 hectares in the vicinity of Jurong Lake, are a very pleasant place for an afternoon stroll, though by themselves they are not worth the trek from the city. The Chinese Garden is actually an island containing a number of Chinese-style pavilions and a seven-storey pagoda providing a great view. Apart from the pavilions, there is an extensive and impressive penjing (Chinese bonsai) display, as well as some more of those spectacularly clean ‘outdoor’ public toilets that seem to be catching on all over Singapore. Set inside the gardens is an unusual Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum. The gardens are a five-minute walk on a pedestrian…
reviewed
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Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
Architecturally out of this world, Singapore’s S$600-million Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is the poster-boy for contemporary Singapore. Architects wanted to challenge ingrained conservatism, and they succeeded – the centre has been compared to flies’ eyes, melting honeycomb and two upturned durians, and called a whole lot of rude words we can’t repeat here. The controversial aluminium shades reference Asian reed-weaving geometries and maximise natural light. Eight years on, the building has been accepted as part of the local landscape. There’s a nonstop program of international and local performances, some great restaurants and free outdoor performances. Book…
reviewed